Barletta and Marino weigh in on "legitimate rape"

Borys has the story


U.S. Rep. Tom Marino joined the growing Republican chorus Tuesday demanding that Rep. Todd Akin drop out as the party's candidate in the Missouri Senate race because of his comments about rape.

"The wounds that victims of rape and their families suffer never completely heal. Whether he meant it or not, Todd Akin's comments were insensitive and cruel," Marino said in a statement. "It is a shame that over the past days victims of rape have had to contemplate his comments and relive their ordeal....There is no gray area in rape," he said. "In the eyes of the law, the line is rightly drawn at 'no' regardless of the situation."

Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Hazleton, was more subdued in his response.

Renita Fennick, his district director, said Barletta disagreed with Akin's comments, "but believes the decision to stay in the Missouri Senate race is up to Rep. Akin, his family and his supporters."

KP: What was offensive about Todd Akin’s comments wasn’t just the suggestion that women’s bodies have some special secretion that knows how to kill rapists’ sperm. What was offensive was that he was marshalling this fake science in the service of the argument that women who get raped shouldn’t have legal access to abortion. Not all Republicans believe the phony science, but they are all running on the platform that abortion should be illegal in all circumstances, with no rape exception.

TP:  The Republican National Convention Platform has approved the “human life amendment,” which would ban abortion without exception for rape or incest.

Funding for the Tobyhanna Army Depot

Republican freshman Congressman Lou Barletta and Tom Marino are taking heat for voting for a Defense appropriation bill that will cut funding for the Tobyhanna Army Depot which is the largest employer in the area. Barletta spokesperson Renita Fenick says he voted for the bill but later discovered an accounting error.

Their Democratic opponents are having a field day with this.

From Phil Scollo: How could he have possibly voted for a bill that does so much damage to his own district? How could he have voted to cut hundreds of jobs in his own district when we are already struggling to reduce unemployment?

Rep. Marino either doesn't care about local jobs or is just plain clueless. 

Gene Stilp: “This is a huge bill and a major bill, and for Mr. Barletta to not understand, at least, how it would affect people in the newly redrawn 11th District shows he still has a lot to learn about how Congress works. He certainly could have proposed an amendment to the bill that would have held it up and protected a leading employer like Tobyhanna. With an economy like this, you have to be aware of things like this.”

Meanwhile, Marino could not be reached for comment.

 I don't think that Barletta and Marino would knowingly vote to cut funding for Tobyhanna but that's the problem, they voted for a bill not knowing what was in it. I remember some Tea Party types demanding that members of Congress should read every bill that is voted on. These guys didn't read the bill but they should have staffers that should spot a problem for their constituencies.

 But don't panic, Senator Bob Casey will get this fixed in the conference committee.

It is understandable that Barletta missed the details of the possible disaster because he is busy with other issues.

From Barletta's website:

He is working for a coal miner stamp that I support but doesn't say anything about the Postal Service near term funding problem.

I agree that gassing animals  is bad. 

A Post Office was renamed.

And illegal immigration!

He should have another Telephone Town Hall soon. Lou blasted Kanjo for hiding from the voters but he has not had an in person town hall  for a while.

 Vote was an error

Defense vote haunts GOP incumbents

 

 

New Luzerne County GOP chairman

In a bit of a surprise Kingston attorney Bill Urbanski was elected as Luzerne County Republican chairman defeating incumbent Terry Casey 79-72 at the party convention Sunday at Genetti's.


Casey was elected in 2008 succeeding Lynette Vilano. and it's fair to say that his record has been more hits than misses. In 2007 the Luzerne County Republicans lost EVERY contested county election. Their only winner that year was Steve Urban because one Republican had to be on the board of commissioners. His first move was hiring Renita Fennick as executive director who was able to deal with the various factions and got people to work together. A year round headquarters was opened in downtown Wilkes-Barre with space donated by a real estate outfit and he got the back mountain money boys to kick in some bucks to pay for it all. It paid off in the 2009 county elections when the Republicans won 2 out 3 of the Row Offices up that year. In 2010 the focus was getting Lou Barletta elected to Congress that was helped by the national wave.

Elections for the county council under the new Home Rule form of government was on the ballot in 2011 and the Republicans snagged 4 of the 11 seats and Stefanie Salavatis knocked off DA JAckie Mo. Not bad for a party that has been on the outside for a long time with a significant deficit in registrations.

 But some Republicans said they should have done better after all the corruption that has seen a slew of Democrats go to jail. Some have complained that the county party didn't help out municipal candidates enough particularly in Wilkes-Barre but that is not the focus of the county party.

The county Republicans haven't been able to fill all of the committee spots and got a big black eye when a race hater wrote himself in for one of them.One of my Republican friends said it was not a priority to recruit county committee members but 6th District honcho James O'Meara said he tried his best to get people to sign up without much success.

Bill Urbanski sounds like a Republican populist if there is such a thing CV: "My vision is simple: do away with unnecessary expenditures and bureaucracies and build a more inclusive county Republican Party," Urbanski said. "Too often committee members and even average voters feel as though they are on the outside looking in, or what may be worse, on the bottom looking up. In my mind, the contributions made by the rank-and-file members of the GOP are just as important as the contributions made by those in positions of power."

It looks like Kingston Mayor Jim Haggerty is the next coming of Marty Murray on the Republican side. He wrote the Home Rule Charter and now this.  "Winning the Republican county election is proof of your grassroots ability," Haggerty said.

Bill's brother posted this picture  :

Update: James O'Meara corrects me in the comments..

Actually, Gort, this year we were successful in the 6th getting new committee members. We have filled 8 of 10 slots in Plains, for example, and I will find people for the other two slots. It was similar throughout the rest of the 6th District. Recruiting those slots is a primary duty of a District Chair, so the empty slots ...and the responsibility to fill them ...are my responsibility.

Welcome home Renita

I was bit surprised that former Luzerne County Republican Party Executive Director Renita Fennick went to work for Tom Marino after the 2010 election instead of Lou Barletta. That has been rectified.

HAZLETON – U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, PA-11, announced that Renita Fennick will become his district director on Monday, April 9.
“Renita brings a wealth of local knowledge and regional experience to my office, and I’m pleased to welcome her to my team,” Rep. Barletta said. “I’ve known Renita for many years. She is committed and dedicated to improving the lives of people in Northeastern Pennsylvania, and I think she will make an excellent district director.”
Fennick leaves the office of U.S. Rep. Tom Marino (PA-10), where she served as communications director since January 2011. She worked at the Citizens’ Voice and Times Leader newspapers in Wilkes-Barre, and was city editor of the Times Leader until 2009, when she left to accept a position as executive director of the Luzerne County Republican Party.

I think Renita did a good job as the local GOP front person and chief organizer. She and Chairman Terry Casey were able to smooth over the factionalism dealing with difficult personalities and helped the Republicans win 2 of the 3 row offices that year. In the 2010 election she was a big booster of Barletta helping him win Luzerne County and the district. Like many of our local politicos she has attended Blogfest and we hope to see her again next Friday along with her new boss and his press guy.

Fennick leaves Marino’s office to work for Barletta

Marino spokeswoman joins Barletta's staff

Redistricting of PA Congressional seats

This is the latest look of what NEPA Congressional Districts might look like according to a story by Borys in the Scranton Times today. It looks a lot different than the one that was floated in the spring and will probably be adjusted again before the final Gerrymandering is done by the Harrisburg Republicans.

This configuration has some pluses and many minuses. I like that all of Luzerne County would be in the same district and Scranton would have a different Congressman than Wilkes-Barre.

The first problem is Scranton would be in the wrong district. Until the last chop up Scranton was the anchor of the 10th CD and was ably represented for many years by Republican Joe McDade who today would be considered a RINO but in the old parlance was called a Rockefeller Republican . In today's atmosphere a guy like McDade would face a primary challenge.

This map makes the 17th CD look like a snake slithering through 5 counties with Scranton being the rattle at the end. It takes most of Carbon and Monroe counties out of the 11th but keeps most of the 10th CD counties intact except for Lackawanna.

The thing that really is annoying is that many districts don't make sense geographically. The proposed 17th CD doesn't have an entire county in it's boundaries which will create confusion. The redistricing process should be removed from the legislature and given to a committee of some grand poobahs then voted on by our salons. A hand full of states have commissions that draw the lines but I won't hold my breath waiting for Pennsylvania to adopt a fair system.

See Redistricting in America

Shawn Kelly, a spokesman for Mr. Barletta, said the congressman "is not focused on redistricting."

Renita Fennick, a spokeswoman for Mr. Marino, said he had no comment on the map.

11th CD Democratic challenger Bill Vinsko told me:

"I am committed to serving the people of Northeast and Central Pennsylvania regardless of
the exact location of the 11th Congressional District boundaries. It's time to get things done for the
people. What I said when I announced remains true: I'm not running only as a Democrat or Republican, I am running as an American. Political map makers cannot control the people no matter how hard they try. You either get the job done or you don't. I'm going to get the job done."

Bill Vinsko has finally added some content to his website. Check it out

Bill Vinsko for Congress

Local GOP victory lap

Luzerne County Republicans will host a Victory Party from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11, at Genetti Hotel & Conference Center, 77 E. Market St., Wilkes-Barre.
Special guests are Congressmen-Elect Lou Barletta, 11th District, and Tom Marino, 10th District... For more information go to the website, http://luzernegop.org/

They are rightly crowing about helping to put the statewide and congressional candidates over the top but the real story is what is happening in the down ballot races. In 2008 the Republicans didn't have one candidate run against the 5 incumbent Democratic State Representatives in Luzerne County. This time around they put up a full slate and were very competitive in the 119th and 120th districts and even knocked off the the Democratic House leader in the 116th although I think that had more to do with Todd Eachus getting beat up by the local papers for flying around on Robert Powell's jet than the merits of Tarah Toohill. But a win is a win. Last year they won 2 of the 3 county row offices after losing every contest in 2007.

Three things have helped change their fortunes. The election of Terry Casey as chairman of the party, the hiring of Renita Fennick as Executive Director and the financial backing of a few donors that always gave money to state and federal GOP candidates but usually skipped the local elections or gave to Democrats because that is where the smart money went.

The back mountain money boys have made it possible to have a full time, year round campaign office in Wilkes-Barre with Renita operating the nuts and bolts. From what I'm told Casey has been a good recruiter and has been able to smooth over the internal divisions of the various factions and got them to work toward a common goal.

For all the hand ringing over the lack of guaranteed minority representation in the new Luzerne County Home Rule Charter it looks like the Republicans will win some seats.

On to 2011.

More complaints from Carolee

Picking up where she left off in her first term as Prothonotary Carolee Medico Olenginski last week was complaining about the rug in her office.

Now she is upsetting the new found unity of the Luzerne County Republican Party saying the organization should not take credit for her election and wants her pictures removed from the new county GOP website. I lifted both of them from the site. She complains that some people couldn't attend the Michael Steele event because they didn't pony up $50 to join the Club GOP. “A lot of people agree with me...A lot of people who have been very active with the Republican Party couldn’t afford to go see Michael Steele that night,” Olenginski said. “To me, that’s wrong. If you’re trying to build a strong party, everyone should be welcome; if you’re trying to build something, you shouldn’t put up walls to keep people out.” She also is upset with the lack of financial support from the party. Controller-elect Walter Griffith said “Honestly, I don’t think the party has much money to hand out yet. But they did step up and helped me and Carolee, as well.”

Chairman Terry Casey pointed out “If she was unable to attend our functions, we always spoke on her behalf; we did what we could for her.” I can attest to that. She was a no show at the Operation HEART kickoff and Executive Director Renita Fennick sang her praises.

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No word of what she thinks of the decor of the party HQ in W-B. It's going to be a fun 4 years.

Straight party voting

Fewer people voted a straight party ticket than in the past in Luzerne County.

TL: Of all votes cast Tuesday, 15 percent, or 10,422, were straight-party.
County Election Bureau Director Leonard Piazza compared that to the last municipal election two years ago, when 23 percent of the votes, or 15,300, were straight-party...Nearly 6,000 Democrats voted straight party on Tuesday, versus 10,041 in 2007...Around 4,000 Republicans voted straight party on Tuesday, compared to 5,200 two years ago...Renita Fennick, executive director of the county Republican Committee, said she believes the party’s public opposition convinced people to avoid straight-party voting.
“It brought attention to the fact that we don’t think it’s a wise way to vote. People should base their selections on the person.”

I think that straight party voting is an anachronism that should be done away with but that would take an act of the Pennsylvania Legislature. Fat chance of that happening because Democratic legislators in Luzerne County, Philladelphia, Pittsburgh and other Democratic strongholds know it helps their party and Republicans in Lancaster, Wayne County and the T, etc. know it favors the local GOP candidates.

Another reform that should be enacted is a little tougher because it requires amending the state constitution. Gerrymandering has to end. The biggest problem with our legislature and the US House of Representatives is gerrymandering. A couple of states have taken redistricting out of the politicians hands but it will be a cold day in hell when that happens here but we can try. Why should districts be drawn to favor one person or one party over another? Congressional and state house/senate districts should be drawn to make geographic sense and be as competitive as possible. That would ensure term limits in many cases and make our representatives more responsive to the people.

Bullet voting

In a previous post I reported that supporters of Judicial candidate Dick Hughes have been urging people to vote for just for him even though you can cast 2 ballots for Common Pleas Judge in Luzerne County. Today I got an email from county GOP chairman Terry Casey asking people to vote for Hughes and skip the other 2.


A MESSAGE FROM CHAIRMAN CASEY

We’re in the final stretch of what has turned into a real horse race for two seats on the Luzerne County bench.
We’re fortunate because clearly the best candidate in the field of three is our very own Richard Hughes, the only Republican in the running.
Dick is running an upbeat, positive, bipartisan campaign.
Not only is Dick battling a lopsided registration edge but he has become victim of the same old dirty Democratic political machine that is fueled by sneaky and dishonest backroom tactics.
In case you haven’t heard, the two Democratic county commissioners decided to push that antiquated, mindless method of voting – straight-party ballot -- by adding some confusing language to the ballot.
They did this in September, a month after deciding in a public meeting that the language was not necessary.
They did not do this at a public meeting as required by law. The two Democratic commissioners approved the language in typical Luzerne County Democratic fashion – a backroom deal without advertising the meeting. Again, an illegal move.
And they didn’t tell anyone about it until they voted on it at a public meeting in October – a month after it was a done deal. By then the absentee ballots were printed and ready to go.
They tried to deceive you and me and all of the voters of Luzerne County and attempted to make an already uneven playing field even more crooked.
This was done at the urging of the attorney of one of the Democratic candidates who has everything to gain by this senseless system called straight-party voting.
They have wielded this political power for too long.
But we have the power now because we’re not going to take it anymore.
We have the power to show Maryanne Petrilla and Greg Skrepenak that we’re smarter than they think we are.
We can tell them we will no longer fall victim to their dirty political tricks.
But there’s only one way we can do this.
We have to cast a bullet vote for Dick Hughes. We have to vote for one and only one candidate for county judge: Republican Richard Hughes.
PLEASE tell your family and friends to vote for ONE and only ONE candidate for Luzerne county judge!!!!
That’s the only way our party will gain traction in Luzerne County.
That’s the only chance we have at getting a Republican on the bench.
That’s the only way the Democratic machine will stop trampling on our rights and our sensibilities ...
If we stand together we can put up a roadblock and stop that Democratic machine that uses unfair tactics to control our county.
We have the power to do that – in a single vote.
A single vote for Richard Hughes for Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas.




Bill O'Boyle in the TL explains the tactic. Bullet voting is a tactic that is employed in races in which there are more candidates than open slots. By not casting the allowable number of votes a voter helps his or her preferred candidate by not adding votes to his or her rivals.

The county GOP is still fuming about instructions being included on the ballot about straight party voting . Executive Director Renita Fennick said “We think the county election board’s decision to add language regarding straight party voting encourages the antiquated, mindless practice of one party voting,” she said. “They took an uneven playing field and made it even more lopsided.”

The usual suspects of political analysis, Tom Baldino, Terry Madonna and Ed Mitchell, had a mixed reaction to the tactic.


I've been bullet voting for years and I think it works. In the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board race the only person I will be voting for is Harry Haas. There are 5 candidates for 4 slots.

Luzerne County GOP picnic

I made it to the Luzerne County Republican Party Family picnic yesterday along with at least 200 other people at the beautiful Hartis Horse Farm in Dallas. The host was recent Controller candidate Bob Sypniewski who spent the day directing traffic. I was wasn't able to stay long and bit my tongue when some of the people started Obama bashing and repeating misinformation about health care reform. Yes, it was bleeding afterward but since this was a social occasion I decided not to get into any arguments with people that can't be persuaded anyway. Speaking of the unpersuadable, I ran into Dave Madeira as I was leaving and he was arriving.

The only picture I snagged was of our next Court of Common Pleas Judge Bill Amesbury and sitting Judge Tom Burke then my camera battery died and I didn't take a spare. Bill won both nominations so he is probably a lock but he stressed to me and anyone else that asked that he is not taking anything for granted and will continue to campaign hard. Republican Judge nominee Dick Hughes was working the crowd and I may just bullet vote for him. Blog buddy ZEN was there with his family and his son confirmed that he has filled his head with untruths about me:) Executive Directer Renita Fennick was the social butterfly of the event and made sure she greeted everyone including your humble narrator- "Oh, it's you."

My counseling efforts worked out between Jonathon and Controller nominee Walter Griffith. They kissed and made up. Carolee Medico was there and is probably headed back to the Courthouse for a repeat performance as Prothonotary.

I had a nice chat with SPCA Director and former WBRE weather guy Vince Sweeney and his wife Carol, at first I thought she was his daughter. Just kidding pal, you're a lucky man. Vince and I have the same talent for breaking machines like weed eaters, lawn mowers and appliances. He told me that if you want a cat the SPCA is handing them out for free which got my wheels turning. I'm sure Quincy would love another playmate but Ptolemy would freak and Mrs. G would also be a hard sell. I'm not sure but I think I'm on the hook for the next fundraiser for the SPCA at Francis Slocum Park in October. I already drop off my albumin cans there but not out of purely altruistic motives. Let them take them to Bilecki's junk yard.

My old friend Carl Romanelli is not optimistic about the health care legislation that will come out of Washington. He prefers a single payer system as do I. He told me that the best thing about being an Independent/Green is that you can go to any party's event and not get anybody mad at you. I suggested that instead of running for statewide offices that they will never win the minor party's like the Greens and Libertarians should put some effort into winning city council, state rep and school board seats and build as a bench for the big races down the line.

Because I was pressed for time I didn't get a chance to say hello to everyone. Some of the people I missed were Wilkes-Barre Area School board candidate Harry Haas , Hanover politico and head of the Malt Beverage Assoc. Dave Shipula, Mr. Flack, Alice Coffman and I'm sure I'm leaving out many others.

A real treat was meeting my Facebook friends David and Kathy .

I also met Superior Court nominees Sallie Mundy and Temp Smith who will be covered in a future post.

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Moses was there greeting everyone and spent the afternoon trying to convince them that they didn't really need all that food on the plate.

Did I drop enough names ?

Elephants on the move

County GOP’s new leader has big plans

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The new executive director of the Luzerne County Republican Party, Renita Fennick, thinks "people around here are mostly conservative, even if they have a D after their name. They just might not know it.” We just have to be educated. To set us straight our local R's will be bringing Karl Rove to town.

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The fact that the county Republican party can afford a full time executive director, a permanent HQ on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre and pay Karl Rove to appear at a rubber chicken dinner shows that they have some money to spend. It looks like the big money back mountain boys that drop big bucks into national Republican campaigns but in the past have contributed to local Democrats have seen the error of their ways and are financing the local GOP. But I haven't checked the finance reports lately so they could be playing both sides of the fence like Multi-Party Bob Mericle.

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Now that the Republican nomination is actually worth something because of the scandals in the courthouse the top dogs are planning to endorse candidates in the primary just like the Democrats. The endorsement process is necessary because of the high number of Republicans who have expressed interest in seeking the party’s nomination for county row offices, Chairman Terry Casey said.“Every day I hear of someone else who picked up petitions or who inquired about running,” Casey said. “If we have multiple candidates for the county row offices, which we expect, we will endorse. It’s a very exciting time for us.” I think that is a bad move. The local GOP has been divided into factions for a long time and an open primary with the agreement of all the candidates to unite behind the winners would be a better approach.

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Congrats to Chairman Terry Casey on his election as the chairman of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry. He will be working closely with former Democratic Luzerne County Commissioner (Bond Brother) Todd Vonderheid.

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On Thursday the party will be hosting a dog and pony show at the Republican HQ, 25 Public Square in Wilkes-Barre with Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta as the headliner. Registered Republicans running for county-level office who are seeking the party endorsement will be allotted time to address the group.

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Maybe we can make this into a blogger meetup and go to Big Ugly's afterward.